Endrin Aeducan and Endrin Aeducan
by Sarah1281
Summary: In which King Bhelen confronts his Paragon brother Reidin on the fact that they've named their sons the EXACT SAME THING and they try to figure out which one of them should have known better...


Endrin Aeducan and Endrin Aeducan

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

There were times when King Bhelen Aeducan honestly could not remember why he had ever remotely hesitated at the thought of his killing his older brother. Yes, they had been close growing up and Reidin had always been there for him and made sure to distract Trian when he was being overly critical but there were times when he did something so incredibly idiotic that Bhelen really wished that he'd just stayed dead.

"What were you thinking?" he demanded.

Reidin glanced over at him. "I have no idea. You'll need to specify about what, exactly, you want me to tell you what I was thinking." He tilted his head, considering. "Although, if I'm being honest, then I may still have no idea even if you do elaborate."

"You named your son Endrin!" Bhelen accused.

"So I did," Reidin confirmed serenely, clearly not knowing or caring why his younger brother was annoyed by this. "Or rather, so Mardy did," he corrected himself, "because I honestly didn't care what he was called. Not to mention that I was still in shock about actually being a father in the first place. I mean, I know that that was technically the point of that threesome but given what happened afterwards I kind of forgot."

"You _forgot_?" Bhelen asked incredulously. How does one just go around forgetting things like that anyway? It was very unprofessional. Then again, given that very shortly afterwards Reidin had been cast out to die for Trian's murder maybe allowances could be made. It was a little irritating that he'd had to have Trian killed himself instead of convincing Reidin to do it but the minute his brother had paled and cried out, horrified, 'You mean _I_ would have to be King?' he had known it was a lost cause. Still, it was a little late to change that particular plan and Reidin's popularity would have made him an unwanted complication anyway.

"It's true," Reidin assured him, picking up on his skepticism. "For that matter, I still don't actually remember her or that other girl but Gorim claims that I did sleep with them and that I told him it was epic. Besides, I suppose the kid does look like me so why not?"

"Focus," Bhelen ordered. That was one good thing about Reidin's return: after years of being forced to endure Trian ordering him about like some sort of cross between a child and a pet, he was now able to be the one giving orders to his family members. Of course, Trian and his father were dead and Reidin was now a Paragon but those were minor details. "Why would you let that casteless woman name your only heir?"

Reidin shrugged. "To be fair, I was hardly a Paragon back then and I wasn't even a Prince at the time so what did I need an heir for? Besides, if it was a really stupid name like Vartag I would have vetoed it."

Since Reidin's return to Orzammar, their relationship had improved quite a bit (although given that when Reidin had initially left Orzammar it had been Bhelen's attempt to kill him it would be difficult not to be on better terms) mostly due to Bhelen's desire to have the only living Paragon, his popularity, and his influence on his side and because Reidin had never been one for grudges and loved his new status as Paragon. Still, Vartag and Reidin could not be in the same room for longer than two minutes before they started sniping at each other and, if left alone, would probably end up trying to kill each other. It was ridiculous, naturally, but didn't appear to be serious enough for him to intercede.

"The suffering you endured because of the usurper's treachery is regrettable," Bhelen said smoothly. Even in private he preferred not to mention anything that might contradict the official story which, after Bhelen had decided to reinstate his older brother, was that the usurper had Trian killed, framed Reidin for the deed, and then attempted to frame him for the framing. "Still, at least you proved yourself a true Aeducan in the end by bringing him down, ending the Blight, and having the humans send troops to take back our land from the fulcrum of true evil."

Reidin looked amused. "You really like that phrase, don't you? And while I will fully admit that it is really unoriginal to name your child after someone else – particularly if that someone is important like a King as that gives them far too much to live up to – you have to keep in mind that Mardy really didn't expect to be allowed to name him and she didn't want to make me wait around all day after I'd just saved her so I guess that was just the first thing that occurred to her. Why are you so concerned, little brother?"

How was it possible that he really didn't know? **Was** it even possible? "Because Rica and I have also named our son Endrin and now we have _two_ Endrin Aeducans who are very close in age and similar in appearance."

"Really?" Reidin looked mildly curious. "That could be frustrating later, especially for our sons, I suppose. Why would you do that?"

"I was trying to honor Father and add a little bit of joy to his life while he was dying mourning you and Trian," Bhelen answered, unsure of why he was even being asked to explain such an obvious concept.

"And you were trying to convince Father not to replace you with Harrowmont," Reidin added with a knowing smirk. "Too bad it was a wasted effort."

"I told you not to use his name!" Bhelen hissed. He wasn't being at all reasonable here about a House as old as Orzammar itself and which wasn't simply going to go away because he hated it. And even if he was then Reidin was still doing it on purpose. "And it wasn't Father's fault that the usurper took advantage of their past friendship to try and advance his foul ambitions."

"I'm sure you'd know nothing about that," Reidin muttered.

"Nothing but what I've seen other do," Bhelen claimed. "As I told you when I warned you about that conversation the usurper had staged where Trian was ordering his men around: I would not have wanted the throne at the cost of my brothers' lives. It's good that you survived, at least."

Reidin rolled his eyes. "I'm sure. And you can't blame me if you chose the same name that I did. Doing that is even more unoriginal than Mardy's was in the first place."

Was her serious? Bhelen wasn't sure but he may as well assume that he was and respond accordingly. "_I_ named my son before you did."

"Are you sure?" Reidin asked quizzically. "Mine's older, after all."

"Of course I'm sure," Bhelen said, a little indignantly. "My Endrin was named before Father even died and if you were offered the chance to name yours and you didn't return until after Father's death then it is impossible for you to have named your Endrin first."

"Maybe," Reidin conceded. "But since my Endrin is older everyone will just assume you stole the name from your poor not-immediately-recognized nephew."

Bhelen sighed. "Undoubtedly you are correct. But since there was no way I could have known you were letting the boy's mother choose the name and that she would pick Endrin this is not in any way my fault."

Reidin looked unconvinced. "Mardy didn't even ask me about a name until I could make the pair of them Aeducans and you wouldn't agree to that until I had crowned you."

"Well I didn't want to fix your baby mess and then have you put the usurper on my throne," Bhelen said reasonably. Even if he himself hadn't wanted the throne, Reidin had always been rather fond of the man who would have prevented him from claiming his birthright.

"If I were going to do that I'd just have had Harrowmont adopt little Endrin," Reidin countered, no doubt enjoying annoying his brother by using the usurper's actual name. "Of course 'Endrin Harrowmont' sounds stupid so there was very little risk of that happening, especially once Zevran and Wynne's attempts to sway me to different candidates ended in them arguing over whether murder was wrong."

"But you could have made him a," Bhelen paused slightly as he realized that he would, indeed, have to invoke the usurper's name, "Harrowmont until you ended the Blight, became the head of House Aeducan, and finally became King yourself." Yes, he might know that that simply wasn't the kind of thing that Reidin was interested in but given his own longstanding interest and the lengths he had gone to achieve it he simply could not wrap his mind around _why_.

As per usual, Reidin spectacularly failed to give out any stunning insights into his character. "I was never really very interested in any of that. It's kind of a drag." He coughed. "Oh, and then there's family loyalty, of course."

"Ah yes, that," Bhelen said dryly. "So easy to forget, really."

"And what do you mean it's not your fault?" Reidin demanded. "I had seen you a few times before Mardy named the kid and you didn't even mention that you even _had_ a son, let alone what his name was. You first heard about my son when Mardy tried to explain about him and you knew he was mine when I mentioned it to you. Given Father liked me better and I had just lost him as well, it's not unreasonable to think I might choose that name."

"That's all very well and good, Reidin, but the fact of the matter is that you didn't choose his name, his mother did," Bhelen pointed out.

"But I could have," Reidin said dismissively. "You had all the facts and I didn't. It's on you, really."

"We're going to need to give nicknames to them now and they will sound undignified and nobody will be able to tell them apart…" Bhelen trailed off, shaking his head. "Does this **really** not bother you?"

Reidin shrugged again. "Not really. Then again, I really don't have to worry about it; _you're _the King, after all."

Yes, Bhelen was definitely going to have to kill him at some point.

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